§ The Minister for Rural Affairs (Alun Michael)I am pleased to announce that we have decided that the new right for the public to walk on mountain, moor, heath, down and registered common land will be rolled out on a region by region basis. We are convinced that the best approach is to give walkers the right to walk in open countryside and on registered common land as early as possible. Rather than wait for the mapping process to be completed for the whole country, I intend to open up land in the first two regions, the South East and Central Southern England, to public access during the summer of 2004.
This is a demanding timetable which requires conclusive maps for those regions to be available, restrictions on access and necessary exclusions to be in place and guidance and codes of practice to be available to walkers and landowners. It is most important that all these mechanisms are in force in each region before any access land is made available to the public to ensure that the interests of both land managers and walkers are safeguarded. We expect all access land to be opened not later than the end of 2005.
Opening some access land more than a year earlier than originally planned shows our commitment to making the provisions of Part 1 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 a reality. Because of that Act, people will be able to walk on land in some of the most beautiful areas of the countryside that were previously off-limits and rural businesses in those areas will benefit from new trading opportunities.
In bringing the new right of access into force, we have maintained a careful balance between the rights of walkers and the rights of land managers. It does not affect land managers' discretion to use or develop land as they think best, taking into account other regulations governing changes of land use. In the vast majority of cases it is likely to have very little impact on operational practices. Owners and occupiers will be able to close their land for up to 28 days each year for any reason, and to seek further restrictions or exclusions of access where necessary.